December 4, 2008
Manhattan Times
ART Seen UPTOWN
Artist: Tony Serio
Title: “870 Riverside Drive, Night”
Exhibited: Boricua College, 3755 Broadway at
W 156th Street Dec. 5th - Jan. 8th
W
ashington Heights artist
Tony Serio’s work, 870
Riverside Drive, Night,
depicts a scene anyone in Northern
Manhattan can identify with. The oil on
canvas work depicts a woman, with a
shopping bag, walking down a curving
street, opposite a park. Its dusk and a
street light shines down on cars parked
on the street, while light from shops in
the building cast their own glow.
“This is a view that I’ve seen every
night and is what comes to mind when
I think of my walk home from the
subway,” Serio said.
“The work’s subject is really of no
consequence. Taking a common place
event, casually observed from the
corner of your eye and making that
into something monumental is what
interests me most in art. The moment
of illumination from the entrance on
this woman has an intimate feeling. It
is the glimpse into another world which
I may have no business looking into.
I have drawn people on the subway
having the same feeling inside, that is
looking into other’s lives of which I
know nothing. My hope is to make the
image provoking in a subtle way rather
than tell a story.”
Serio has made everyday scenes
from near his home on Riverside Drive
and W.162nd Street his main subject,
bringing, through in his paintings, a
timeless character and warmth to the
neighborhood.
With this particular scene, Serio
wanted to create a large studio work.
”To do this, I painted a study
on location at dusk by street light.
This gave me a direct feeling for the
composition and color reference,”
Serio said.
“I also had set up a camera there to
take some shots where a woman who
happened to be passing by was captured
in one of the frames.”
The image of the woman became
very important to the work.
“I had no intention of putting her
in there,” Serio said. “But her action
perfectly described the curving space
around the building countering the
progression of parked cars on the street
which seem to move in an opposing
direction, that I had to include her. She
also adds a psychological focus to the
image.”
He returned over and over to the
scene to capture the moment.
“I consider this work to be about the
memory of the place rather than the
depiction of details. It is more important
to me to capture the sensation,” he
said.
~Daniel P. Bader
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